Sista Act

The Sugar Water Festival brings together three of the most dynamic personalities
in music today: Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Queen Latifah  all platinum-selling,
Grammy-winning artists, but each offering a unique sound and performance. Different
from the usual tour package, Sugar Water reminds us of the old Motown revues:
Its a showcase of strong black female voices, something for the women, for the
men and for music lovers of all ages. We decided to phone the fierce poet-actress-singer
Scott while she was on tour in Detroit, because shes got so much going on, and
we really wanted to find out more about the woman behind steamy hits like Love
Rain. Jill was upbeat, almost giggly, even called us honey a couple of times.
Sweet.

L.A. WEEKLY: Today was your day off  what do you do on a day off?JILL SCOTT [laughing]: I chiiillll! Sometimes I visit friends. Or Ill
hang around in the hotel playing video games  Im a big The Sims junkie.
[Players micromanage the lives of virtual people, the Sims.] Or Ill watch a movie
or hang out with the band or crew. Do you hang out with Queen Latifah and Erykah?Were all on different schedules, even though were on the same tour.
Latifah will have work to do, shes doing voice-overs now, and Erykah obviously
has her children, and Im sure shes also working on an album as well, so sometimes
we see each other, but sometimes we wont, but thats good, because when we get
to the shows were excited about seeing each other.

I know there has to be some inside meaning to Sugar Water.We had a really long line of names for the show. We thought that Sugar Water
was very simple  a lot of people could relate to it. Sugar Water meant to me
that water is the sweet nectar, its the nectar of the gods. I think three-fourths
of the planet is covered with water. And were that sugar in the water.

How did this show come together?Erykah and I both got a call from Latifah saying that she would like to go
on tour [her first in five years]. Then we all came up with the idea of having
a festival and owning the festival ourselves, quite similar to the Lilith Fair
[Sarah McLachlans all-female tour]. We were all like-minded, all multiplatinum
artists, all Grammy winners  it just seemed like a really good match, and the
more we talked on the phone, the more I liked their personalities and thought,
Yo, we could work together. We could do great things together.

What is the Sugar Water Festival all about?We hope it will be something that happens every year, with artists that can
perform live with a live band  no DATs, no recorded music. Live bands, live vocalists.

Could you see Angie Stone or Lauryn Hill or Mary J. Blige on this festival?Oh, absolutely, without a question. Id like to see someone like Beyoncé on
the festival, I think thatd be really nice, where she can just sing, cause the
woman has an extraordinary voice. Id love to see Lauryn Hill in the festival.
Id love to see John Legend and Anthony Hamilton. The artists that can actually
do it live, thats who we want.

Is it intimidating at all, to go on before or after Queen Latifah and
Erykah?Everybody is bringing their own thing to the table, and thats what so positive about it. If anything, its a motivating force  once somebody goes onstage and they do their thing, you know you really want to do your thing, too. You really want to represent yourself well. I think thats whats going on here. [She laughs.] Floetry opens the show . . . I mean, I dont want to tell you everything, because I want it to be a surprise.

Lets talk about your acting and your poetry book, The Moments,
the Minutes, the Hours.I took off two years and did a couple of things I wanted to do. I wanted to be on a television sitcom  I really enjoyed being on Girlfriends [UPN]. I did a movie with Kevin Bacon and Aidan Quinn, Cave Dwellers for Showtime  that was a good experience, it let me get my feet wet in the small screen. And I wanted to write a book of my own work  I had so much of it just waiting to be read, felt and seen that I decided to compile everything and create my own book.

Do you have a favorite piece?I really like Mrs. Bird [a poem about a woman named Nokia who wanted to be a singer but wound up on the streets].

Speaking of birds, you did Sesame Street. How did
that happen?I got a phone call asking me if I would like to do Sesame Street. It
wasnt even a question, a thought, it was immediate, like, Hell yeah, I want
to do Sesame Street! It was great, I loved it so much. Oh, my goodness.
It was life-affirming in so many ways, cause Id always wanted to meet Big Bird.
[She laughs.]

The Sugar Water Festival comes to the Greek Theater Tuesday, Aug. 9, and Wednesday,
Aug. 10.

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